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INTRODUCTION
The Eolian Harp is written in August 1795. It occupies an important position in the poetry of Coleridge. It is in a sense the first important and characteristic poem by Coleridge "The poem is written in blank verse, beautiful in cadence and easily as fluent as Milton's. It anticipates by three years Wordsworth's grent poem Tintern Abbey. Coleridge regards it his most perfect poem. As a matter of fact, this poem is one of the six "poems of friendship or Conversation" written by Coleridge - the others beings, Frost at Midnight, On Having Left a Place of Retirement, Fears in Solitude, This Lime-Tree Bower, My Prison mid The Nightingale. All these six poems have common characteristics. "These six poems are in blank-verse of apparently artless simplicity, very delicate however, and unsurpassed for flexible grace. Its music is of a kind rarely heard before, except now and then in brief passages in Elizabethan dramas and in Cowper's Task. The process of his thought too, is quiet and natural. The poems all begin serenely, with some notice of the time and place, then generally pass into a mood of self-examination, and with a return or transposes repetition of the original cheerful tune and mood."
Coleridge gives expression to the belief that both the mind of man and external nature are pervaded by the Divine Spirit:
O the one life within us and abroad,Which meets all motion and becomes its soul,A light in sound, a sound-like power in lightRhythm in all thought, and joyance everywhere
It is probable that Wordsworth is influenced by these lines when wrote in Tintern Abbey:
A motion and a spirit that impelsAll thinking, all objects of all thoughtAnd rolls through all thingsColeridge "pictures Nature as a series of harps playes upon by one - the soul of God, which is the same in all things. God is imagines as a great musician who calls forth the harmony latent in all creation."
SUMMARY
Addressing his wife Sara, the poet points out that it is very pleasant to look at their cottage, the clouds and the evening star. He next tells her that the lute placed in the window is giving forth music as it is being played upon by the wind. This music is elfish (ethereal) and sweet. He thinks that the Divine spirit pervades both the mind of man and the external nature. This Divine Spirit is the soul of every animate or inanimate object. He recalls how when he reclines on a slope of the hill, vague whims and fancies flash across his mind. He conjectures that all living nature is just a series of harps which give forth music when the soul of God, like an intellectual breeze, blows over them. Suddenly he remembers that his beloved Sara seems to be disapproving of his thoughts and philosophy and is reminding him not to be presumptuous but to worship God like a humble Christian. He agrees with her, praises and thanks God for His great blessings, like their cottage, his peace of mind and Sara.
DEVELOPMENT OF THOUGHT AND CRITICAL ANALYSIS
Development of Thought: There are two ideas expresses by the poet in the poem. First, that the Divine Spirit pervades both the mind of man and external nature:
O the one life within us and abroad,Which meets all motion and becomes its soulA light in sound, a sound-like power in lightRhythm in all thoughts, and joyance everywhere.
The second idea in the poem is that God is a great musician who brings forth the latent music in every animate object by making the Divine Spirit blow over it:
And what if all the animated natureBe but organic harps diversely framedThat tremble into thought, as o'er them sweepsPlastic and vast, one intellectual breeze....
Critical Appreciation and Interpretation. The Eolian Harp is written in 1795. In both substance and form it is the first important poem written by Coleridge. It marks an era in the development of Coleridge's power of expression, both as regards melody and individuality. "Coleridge for the first time for himself, discovered the countryside, and this new influence give him a lyrical intensity, enriched his imagery, stimulated his thought, make his verse fluent and easy". The poem does not, as has been wrongly supposes by some critics, owe its inspiration to Wordsworth because the two poets first meet in September while the date of the composition of The Eolian Harp is August 20, 1795. On the other hand, this poem anticipates by three years, in two of its passages, Wordsworth's famous poem Tintern Abbey. Some of the lines bear a remarkably close resemblance.
It is reasonable to believe that Wordsworth make use of the philosophy of The Eolian Harp in his Tintern Abbey. Coleridge's poem anticipates his friend's not only in its single emotional curve - but also, if the essential form of the poem is borne in mind, in every stage through which that curve passes.
In the Eolian Harp Coleridge thinks as he feels and feels as he thinks. His philosophical opinions are blended with his tender lyricism.
The theme of the poem is that nature is a series of harps and God is the great musician. The soul of God like an intellectual breeze blows over every living object and brings forth the latent music.
The Eolian Harp, like Frost at Midnight and The Nightingale, has been classed as a 'Poem of Friendship' or Conversation. Coleridge's poems of friendships have certain common characteristics which are shared by 'The Eolian Harp. "They are written in blank verse of apparently artless simplicity, very delicate however and unsurpassed for flexible grace. Its music is of a kind rarely heard before except now and then in brief passages in Elizabethan drama. The process of his thought, too, is quiet and natural. The poems all begin serenely, with some notice of the time and place, then generally pass into a mood of self-examination, and end with a return or transposes repetition of the original cheerful tone and mood".
The Eolian Harp is written in blank verse, beautiful in cadence and easily as fluent as Milton's.